This report presents some of the general design concepts of operating nuclear power plants in order to discuss design considerations for seismic events. This report does not attempt to conclude whether one design is inherently safer or less safe than another plant. Nor does it attempt to conclude whether operating nuclear power plants are at any greater or lesser risk from earthquakes given recent updates to seismic data and seismic hazard maps.

The Texas Panhandle is regarded as the “Cattle Feeding Capital of the World”, producing 42% of the fed beef cattle in the United States within a 200-mile radius of Amarillo generating more than 5 million tons of feedlot manure /year. Apart from feedlots, the Bosque River Region in Erath County, just north of Waco, Texas with about 110,000 dairy cattle in over 250 dairies, produces 1.8 million tons of manure biomass (excreted plus bedding) per year. While the feedlot manure has been used extensively for irrigated and dry land crop production, most dairies, as well as other concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFO’s), the dairy farms utilize large lagoon areas to store wet animal biomass. Water runoff from these lagoons has been held responsible for the increased concentration of phosphorus and other contaminates in the Bosque River which drains into Lake Waco—the primary source of potable water for Waco’s 108,500 people. The concentrated animal feeding operations may lead to land, water, and air pollution if waste handling systems and storage and treatment structures are not properly managed. Manure-based biomass (MBB) has the potential to be a source of green energy at large coal-fired power plants and on smaller-scale combustion systems at …

The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks gave new momentum to European Union (EU) initiatives to combat terrorism and improve police, judicial, and intelligence cooperation among its member states. Since the 2001 attacks, the EU has sought to speed up its efforts to harmonize national laws and bring down barriers among member states' law enforcement authorities so that information can be meaningfully shared and suspects apprehended expeditiously. Among other steps, the EU has established a common definition of terrorism and a common list of terrorist groups, an EU arrest warrant, enhanced tools to stem terrorist financing, and new measures to strengthen external EU border controls and improve aviation security.

This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, an historical overview of debt limits, and how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, as well as legislation related to these increases.

This report discusses how the total debt of the federal government can increase, an historical overview of debt limits, and how the current economic slowdown has led to higher deficits and thereby a series of debt limit increases, as well as legislation related to these increases.

This report discusses potential qualifying Energy Sources for Clean Energy Standard.

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This report discusses the legislative branch appropriations bill that provides funding for the Senate; House of Representatives; Joint Items; Capitol Police; Office of Compliance; Congressional Budget Office (CBO); Architect of the Capitol (AOC); Library of Congress, including the Congressional Research Service (CRS); Government Printing Office (GPO); Government Accountability Office (GAO); and Open World Leadership Center.

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The ultimate objective of this work was to eliminate approximately 30% of the machining performed in typical automotive engine and transmission plants by using thread forming fasteners in as-cast holes of aluminum and magnesium cast components. The primary issues at the source of engineers’ reluctance to implementing thread forming fasteners in lightweight castings are: * Little proof of consistency of clamp load vs. input torque in either aluminum or magnesium castings. * No known data to understand the effect on consistency of clamp load as casting dies wear. The clamp load consistency concern is founded in the fact that a portion of the input torque used to create clamp load is also used to create threads. The torque used for thread forming may not be consistent due to variations in casting material, hole size and shape due to tooling wear and process variation (thermal and mechanical). There is little data available to understand the magnitude of this concern or to form the basis of potential solutions if the range of clamp load variation is very high (> +/- 30%). The range of variation that can be expected in as-cast hole size and shape over the full life cycle of a …

In response to a request from Solid Waste Management (SWM), this study evaluates the performance of waste disposed in Slit Trenches 1-5 by calculating exposure doses and concentrations. As of 8/19/2010, Slit Trenches 1-5 have been filled and are closed to future waste disposal in support of an ARRA-funded interim operational cover project. Slit Trenches 6 and 7 are currently in operation and are not addressed within this analysis. Their current inventory limits are based on the 2008 SA and are not being impacted by this study. This analysis considers the location and the timing of waste disposal in Slit Trenches 1-5 throughout their operational life. In addition, the following improvements to the modeling approach have been incorporated into this analysis: (1) Final waste inventories from WITS are used for the base case analysis where variance in the reported final disposal inventories is addressed through a sensitivity analysis; (2) Updated K{sub d} values are used; (3) Area percentages of non-crushable containers are used in the analysis to determine expected infiltration flows for cases that consider collapse of these containers; (4) An updated representation of ETF carbon column vessels disposed in SLIT3-Unit F is used. Preliminary analyses indicated a problem meeting …

The volumetric heating of a thin copper target has been studied with time resolved x-ray spectroscopy. The copper target was heated from a plasma produced using the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory's Compact Multipulse Terrawatt (COMET) laser. A variable spaced grating spectrometer coupled to an x-ray streak camera measured soft x-ray emission (800-1550 eV) from the back of the copper target to characterize the bulk heating of the target. Radiation hydrodynamic simulations were modeled in 2-dimensions using the HYDRA code. The target conditions calculated by HYDRA were post-processed with the atomic kinetics code CRETIN to generate synthetic emission spectra. A comparison between the experimental and simulated spectra indicates the presence of specific ionization states of copper and the corresponding electron temperatures and ion densities throughout the laser-heated copper target.

We are developing a non-interceptive beam profile and energy monitor for H{sup -} beams in the high energy beam transport (HEBT) line at the Brookhaven National Lab linac. Electrons that are removed from the beam ions either by laser photodetachment or stripping by background gas are deflected into a Faraday cup. The beam profile is measured by stepping a narrow laser beam across the ion beam and measuring the electron charge vs. transverse laser position. There is a grid in front of the collector that can be biased up to 125kV. The beam energy spectrum is determined by measuring the electron charge vs. grid voltage. Beam electrons have the same velocity as the beam and so have an energy of 1/1836 of the beam protons. A 200MeV H{sup -} beam yields 109keV electrons. Energy measurements can be made with either laser-stripped or gas-stripped electrons.

Four ionization profile monitors (IPMs) are in RHIC to measure vertical and horizontal beam profiles in the two rings. These work by measuring the distribution of electrons produced by beam ionization of residual gas. During the last two years both the collection accuracy and signal/noise ratio have been improved. An electron source is mounted across the beam pipe from the collector to monitor microchannel plate (MCP) aging and the signal electrons are gated to reduce MCP aging and to allow charge replenishment between single-turn measurements. Software changes permit simultaneous measurements of any number of individual bunches in the ring. This has been used to measure emittance growth rates on six bunches of varying intensities in a single store. Also the software supports FFT analysis of turn-by-turn profiles of a single bunch at injection to detect dipole and quadrupole oscillations.

An efficient, cost-effective hydrogen storage system is a key enabling technology for the widespread introduction of hydrogen fuel cells to the domestic marketplace. Air Products, an industry leader in hydrogen energy products and systems, recognized this need and responded to the DOE 'Grand Challenge' solicitation (DOE Solicitation DE-PS36-03GO93013) under Category 1 as an industry partner and steering committee member with the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) in their proposal for a center-of-excellence on Carbon-Based Hydrogen Storage Materials. This center was later renamed the Hydrogen Sorption Center of Excellence (HSCoE). Our proposal, entitled 'Designing Microporous Carbons for Hydrogen Storage Systems,' envisioned a highly synergistic 5-year program with NREL and other national laboratory and university partners.

This report is designed to assist Members of Congress as they consider the costs and benefits of the U.S.-South Korean Free Trade Agreement (KORUS FTA.) It examines the provisions of the KORUS FTA in the context of the overall U.S.-South Korean economic relationship, U.S. objectives, and South Korean objectives.

This report examines two recent initiatives by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in which the agency works with states to develop and implement new approaches for water quality goals that will be more cost-effective and address the most pressing water infrastructure problems first. The examples include an integrated planning policy and a framework policy for assessing a community's financial capability to meet objectives and requirements of the Clean Water Act (CWA).

This report discusses the issue of stormwater, or runoff, which is considered largely a problem of excess rainwater or snowmelt impacting communities. Prevailing engineering practices were to move stormwater away from cities as rapidly as possible to avoid potential damages from flooding. More recently, these practices have evolved and come to recognize stormwater as a resource that, managed properly within communities, has multiple benefits.

The most recent Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission submitted its final report to the Administration on September 8, 2005. In the report, the commission rejected 13 of the initial Department of Defense recommendations, significantly modified the recommendations for 13 other installations, and approved 22 major closures. The loss of related jobs, and efforts to replace them and to implement a viable base reuse plan, can pose significant challenges for affected communities. This report explores the potential economic impact of military closures on communities, especially rural communities, which are more heavily affected by such closures and suffer from slower economic recovery times in such instances.

We are establishing a theoretical procedure to identify most potential candidates of CO{sub 2} solid sorbents from a large solid material databank to meet the DOE programmatic goal for energy conversion; and to explore the optimal working conditions for the promising CO{sub 2} solid sorbents, especially from room to warm T ranges with optimal energy usage, used for both pre- and post-combustion capture technologies.

This report provides a brief overview of the FY2014 State Department, Foreign Operations and Related Programs funding request.

This report discusses President Trump's April 18, 2017 Executive Order on Buy American and Hire American and its implications for U.S. trade agreements and government procurement costs.

This report addresses when, if ever, a regional federal trial judge adjudicating a case involving the federal government can award nationwide injunctive relief--a court order that commands a party to take or refrain from taking some action throughout the country. In the context of a suit against the federal government, an injunction with this type of "universal" effect acts to effectively void the law or policy in question. This report briefly explores the nationwide injunction at issue in the travel ban case (Trump v. Hawaii) and surveys a handful of the scholarly and judicial arguments surrounding the nationwide injunction in general

This report examines recent trends in waterborne freight movement within the United States and offers policy options that might strengthen the competitive position of coastal and Great Lakes shipping in the face of robust demand for freight transportation.